Welcome to The Tip Sheet, a daily political analysis of the 2018 elections, based on interviews with Republican and Democratic officials, pollsters, strategists and voters.

Voter applications said to be missing in Georgia

Fears of voter suppression were again ignited in Georgia on Thursday after state Democratic officials said that more than 4,700 vote-by-mail applications were missing in DeKalb County, one of Georgia’s most populous and liberal-leaning regions.

County officials acknowledged the missing applications in a phone conversation this week with Democratic voter protection officials, and pledged to call the thousands of voters to inform them of the error, according to multiple people familiar with the conversation.

A spokesman for the DeKalb County elections board would not confirm the details of the call. Sam Tillman, the chairman of the board, added that “there is no evidence that there are any missing or lost absentee ballot request forms.” He said of a list of 4,700 names provided by the Democratic officials, he could confirm that the county had only received 48 of the requests.

To vote in November, the voters caught in the discrepancy will have to re-request a ballot. The deadline for the state to send an absentee ballot to a voter is Nov. 2. The state also has in-person early voting until Nov. 2. Democratic Party officials are worried that some voters who had requested the vote-by-mail applications are out of state, away at college or cannot leave their homes, and cannot vote in person.

Seth Bringman, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia, called the episode an example of voter suppression under Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp. Mr. Kemp, to some controversy, is holding dual roles as the state’s election official and the Republican nominee for governor.

“Our message to voters is this: If you requested a vote-by-mail ballot from your county and your county did not send you a ballot, go in-person if you are able to an early voting site,” Mr. Bringman said. “We will not allow Brian Kemp’s voter suppression or mistakes by election officials to take away your right to vote.”

Earlier this week, Mr. Kemp refused to respond to criticism that he was creating electoral barriers for Democratic voters to help his gubernatorial aspirations. In a statement, he blamed the allegations of voter suppression on “San Francisco socialists and liberal billionaires from New York.”

Where things stand

• Red-state Senate Democrats have found a villain for their closing message: those dastardly Democrats.

Two of the most vulnerable incumbents, Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Joe Donnelly of Indiana, have moved aggressively in recent ads to distance themselves from left-wing elements in their own party.

The level of subtlety varies. Ms. McCaskill’s team put out a radio ad assuring voters that she is not “one of those crazy Democrats,” without naming who, exactly, qualifies for the Crazy Caucus. She also released an ad from veterans defending her tenure that included a striking caveat: “You don’t have to like her,” one says.

Mr. Donnelly, leaving nothing to chance, leaned on a visual aid. Brandishing an ax in his ad, he ticks off his less-than-progressive record — a split with many in his party on the Bush tax cuts, a split with the “liberal left” over defense spending — while literally splitting hunks of wood in half. It’s a metaphor, ya see. “I split with my own party,” he says, thwacking away, “to support funding for Trump’s border wall.”

Look for more of this before Election Day (well, maybe not exactly this) from endangered Democrats hoping to stick around.

• Want to know how Republicans are feeling about the Senate campaign? Watch Air Force One.

But senior party officials indicate he may have time for a second trip to one of those states. And that will be the tell: Where might Mr. Trump head back to for a final pre-election rally?

• According to a New York Times/Siena College poll that ended Wednesday, the battleground congressional race in Florida between Representative Carlos Curbelo, a Republican, and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a Democrat, is effectively tied. Mr. Curbelo had a slight edge in the poll in mid-September.

• Mi Familia Vota, a Latino civic organization, is releasing an arresting television ad featuring a dramatization of President Trump slapping Latinos across the face. The ad is titled “Trumpadas,” a play on the Spanish word “trompada,” which is a punch.

The spot, which will be running in seven states with large Latino populations, marks a rare media buy for a Latino group during the campaign season. Typically, such organizations leave messaging to campaigns and candidates. But concerns about candidates ignoring the Latino vote prompted the group to raise money for a spot. Democrats fear that low Latino turnout could undercut their chances in key races.

The moderator on Wednesday night asked Ron DeSantis, the Republican nominee and former congressman, about his past speaking engagements at far-right conferences and his campaign contributions from a donor who called President Barack Obama a racist slur.

Mr. DeSantis was not pleased with the question.

“How the hell am I supposed to know every single statement somebody makes?” he asked, pledging not to “bow down to the altar of political correctness.”

His Democratic opponent, Andew Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee and an African-American, smiled a bit.

The moment, fascinating on its own, also spoke to a larger dynamic this year: racial politics being discussed explicitly — no tiptoeing — in prominent races featuring black contenders. The night before in Georgia, Stacey Abrams, the Democratic nominee for governor, suggested that her Republican opponent, Brian Kemp, had created “an atmosphere of fear” by restricting voting access in communities of color as secretary of state.

Donor revelations out Thursday

How much did campaigns, party committees and super PACs raise during the first two and a half weeks of this month? That will become clear Thursday, when they file reports with the Federal Election Commission before a midnight deadline.

What to watch for:

• Seven- and eight-figure donations from some of the biggest donors in American politics, like Michael R. Bloomberg, whose contributions this month included $20 million to the super PAC supporting Democratic Senate candidates.

• Expect significant movement of money from flush committees to those spending heavily in key races. The Republican National Committee has transferred $3.5 million each to the National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, according to people familiar with the moves. They say that President Trump’s campaign, in turn, is planning to transfer $3 million to the R.N.C.

• Among the key questions that the reports could answer: Did President Trump’s aggressive campaigning help Republican candidates in competitive races close a large fund-raising gap with their Democratic rivals?

‘It’s a lie, Bob’

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Senator Robert Menendez, right, the Democrat candidate for Senate in New Jersey, debated on Wednesday against his Republican challenger, Bob Hugin.CreditPool photo by Julio Cortez

Senator Robert Menendez, the Democrat of New Jersey in a tight race for re-election after a trial on federal corruption charges ended in a hung jury, found his character on the line in his debate Wednesday night against Bob Hugin, the Republican candidate and former pharmaceutical executive.

At issue was a recent Hugin ad focusing on the most explosive of the sundry allegations against Mr. Menendez: that he and a friend hired underage prostitutes while vacationing in the Dominican Republic. This has never been proven — it came from an anonymous tipster — and was not included in an indictment brought against the men.

“It’s a lie, Bob,” Mr. Menendez said firmly. “You know it’s a lie.”

Mr. Hugin said he was “not saying we should retry Mr. Menendez” but added that questions of character remained fair game.